Rotary lawn mowers and edge trimmers



Sept. 22, 1959 E. R. HICKEL ROTARY LAWN MOWERS AND EDGE TRIMMERS FiledOct. 2l, 1957 I2C 18a 12a 12" United States Patent Office 2,904,947Patented Sept. 22, 1959 ROTARY LAWN MOWERS AND EDGE TRIMMERS Elmer R.Hickel, Wichita, Kans.

Application October 21, 1957, Serial No. 691,366

1 Claim. (Cl. 56-25.4)

The present invention relates generally to horizontally disposed rotaryblade type lawn mowers and has particular reference to an improved edgetrimming feature which may readily be adapted to several mowers thatemploy a single blade or a plurality of blades rotatable about avertical axis in a common horizontal plane.

An object of the invention is found in the provision of a horizontallydisposed common-plane-contained rotary blade type lawn mower having acasing including elongated comparatively narrow slots or apertures inopposite side walls of the casing adapted to receive therein the outerperipheral edges of a plurality of circularly spaced cutters carried ona rotary mounting plate rotatably propelled by a vertically disposedshaft of a prime mover such as an internal combustion engine mounted ontop of the casing; the narrow slots in the opposed side walls of thecasing being open at the forward or front edges of the casing wallswhich slightly slope downwardly outwardly while the parallel edges ofthe narrow slots 12al merge into a pair of upwardly and downwardlydiverging edges (respectively 12b and 12) of the casing to constituteoutwardly flaring mouths adapted to receive therein the upstanding rowsof grass while the forwardly moving mower progressively compresses thegrass into the restricted areas of the narrow slots 12a whereat thegrass is rapidly successively cut by the sharp edges of the cutters asthey pass through the slots.

Another object of the invention resides in providing the opposed sidewalls of the casing at slightly angularly disposed positions slopingdownwardly outwardly with the narrow slots for the cutter blades locatedclose to the bottom edges of the side walls and including a plurality ofvertically spaced bearing holes for vertically adjustably mounting theaxles of the mower wheels with reference to the rotating cutters forpurposes of varying the height of the trimmed grass; the downwardlyoutwardly sloping side walls -and the outwardly flared edges of the openends of the slots disposed near the lower edges of these walls provideexcellent guiding means for progressively tending and feeding the lawnedge into the final restricted area of the slot whereat it is trimmed bythe rotating cutters while partially confined within the slot.

The various features of novelty whereby the present invention ischaracterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in theappended claim, however, for a full understanding of the invention andof its objects and advantages reference may be had to the followingdetailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing,wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a mower embodying a preferred form of myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the mower, the engine being omitted.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

As shown in the drawing the mower comprises a casing including a top 11,side walls 12 and a rear wall 13. The front end of the casing is openand provided with an arcuate guard 14 consisting of laterally spaceddepending teeth; the rear wall 13 being preferably angularly disposed toprovide an opening for discharge therethrough of the cut glass.

Mounted on the casing top 11 is any well known prime mover such as aninternal combustion engine 15 which drives the vertically disposed shaft16 that is operatively connected to the circular cutter mounting plate17.v Along the periphery of plate 17, I mount and rigidly aix thereto aplurality of circularly equally spaced cutters 18 of generallytriangular shape and each preferably having a short portion of its apexcut olf to present a comparatively short sharp cutting edge 18a disposedbetween the two relatively angularly disposed sharp cutting sides 18h;the cutters are so mounted on the mounting plate 17 that their portionsbetween the sharp sides 18h extend radially outwardly and project beyondthe circular peripheral edge of the mounting plate 17 while thediametrical distance between the sharp ends 18EL is equal to thehorizontal or transverse distance be tween the outer faces of the sidewalls 12 at the longitudinal center-lines of the slots 12a.

The opposed side walls 12 are provided with horizontally alignedelongated narrow slots or openings 12a adapted to receive therein thesharp peripheral ends 18a of the circularly rotating cutters 18 carriedon the mounting plate 17 as it is rotated by the engine shaft 16 whilemounted to its lower end between a plurality of washers 19 and securedthereto by nut 20.

The opposed side walls 12 are relatively oppositely angularly disposedand are inclined downwardly outwardly to provide excellent guiding meansfor presenting the edge-trimming facility close to a wall or sidewalkcurb; the outwardly flaring edges 12b and 12c of the open ends of theslots 12a disposed near the lower edges of these side walls provideexcellent guiding means for progressively fending or gathering the lawnedge into the restricted areas of the slots 12a whereat it is trimmed bythe cutters while partially confined within the slots.

From the foregoing, it is apparent that I have provided a lawn mowerwhich is permanently equipped with the very desirable provision of meansfor trimming lawn edges close to a wall or walk curb.

It should be noted that the mower is provided with the lawn edgetrimming means in connection with both sides of the mower casing so thatthe lawn edge trimming facilities on either side of the mower mayalternately be employed while the mower is moved in the same direction.

I claim:

A lawn mower having a `casing including a pair of relatively oppositelyinclined side walls each provided with an elongated narrow horizontallydisposed slot, rotatable grass cutting means within said casingcomprising a plurality of circularly arranged equally spaced cuttersrotatable about a vertical axis in a common hori zontal plane, the outerperipheral edges of said cutters being movable through portions of saidslots, said slots having parallel edges extending forwardly intodiverging edges defining forwardly flaring mouths adapted to receivetherein the upstanding rows of grass while the forwardly moving mowerprogressively gathers the grass through the flaring mouths into therestricted areas of the narrow slots whereat the grass is trimmed by therapidly rotating cutters as they successively pass through the slots.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,314,681 Beatty Mar. 23, 1943 2,636,333 Michaels Apr. 28, 19532,671,299 Orr Mar. 9, 1954 2,796,715 Meltzer June 25, 1957 2,814,924Group et al Dec. 3, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 253,199 Switzerland Feb. 29,1948

